DOG IS YOUR BEST FRIEND AND REPLACES ALARM IN HOME

DOG IS YOUR BEST FRIEND AND REPLACES ALARM IN HOME.

I am an advocate of having a dog that will sound the alarm if an intruder comes into your yard or home and can protect you or your loved ones on command. The process of training such a dog to do this properly is not as easy as you may think. If you have ever struggled to house break a dog, come when called, heel properly on or off a lead, you know it takes some time and a great deal of expertise.

In the case of a guard dog, that animal has to be under control at all times. It would not bode well for you if your dog mauls the neighbours child or kills someone. This has happened, because a person has a vicious dog that is not properly trained and the master has no control over the dog.

There was a particularly sad incident in San Francisco where a couple were keeping two large dogs in an apartment. The lady brought both dogs back from a walk when they rushed down the apartment hallway and attacked and killed a young lady, who was a neighbour on the same floor. These dogs were raised to be aggressive, they were big dogs any one of them would have been as heavy or heaver than their female owner. The owner could not hold the dogs back nor would the dogs obey her commands to stop the attack. Obviously, and as a responsible dog owner you have to ensure that your dog will not commit an unprovoked attack, that the dog will obey your commands and that the dog is safe to be around people, all people.

When your dog/s is in your yard, that is the dog’s territory it is natural to bark when someone or other animals come too close. If someone climbs over the fence they can expect to be attacked. The hard part is to train the dog not to pursue anything outside of the yard. Remember how difficult it was to train the dog to heel? I’ll remind you I am not talking about just the family pet, but even the family pet should be safe to be around and under control.

For the ladies out there, a little know fact: If you are out with your average size or larger dog, that has no training and you are attacked by someone. Hold on to that dog’s leash, in fact choke up on the leash to bring the dog close to you. This puts the dog in the fight and it will attack. If you let go of the leash the dog has a pack mentality, it will stand to the side and wait for the strongest member of the pack to win the fight, that might be the attacker.

I would advise considering getting a professionally trained guard dog. It will be expensive, but consider what you will be buying, a pet, an alarm, a personal bodyguard. A gun is always comforting, but not having to use a gun is the best outcome.